Survival and Emergency Preparedness

I recently had an interesting battery experience. I was attempting to replace three batteries. They were in an Accutire digital tire pressure reader. The manual said that they were LR44 batteries. The batteries were marked as such. No problem, I had name brand LR44 batteries.

If 3 LR44 replacement batteries were put in, the batteries were loose and would not have contact. It was not possible to put in 4 as attempting to do so would have broken the battery housing.

On its website, Accurtire is just a marketing name and not a manufacturer. I was able to contact the US based representative of the Chinese manufacturer and sent pictures. The three batteries in the unit were rounded on top and not flat like LR44 batteries. I even took the unit into a national distributor of batteries (who is too expensive so I don't buy there) and the guy agreed, they weren't standard LR44 batteries.

I will hear back from the PRC some day. In the meantime, I bought a replacement digital tire gauge.

This morning the girl friend left a remote weather sensing device that needed new batteries, 2 AAs. They both registered as 'good". However, sometimes a battery will read "good" and be low on the scale and doesn't work. No problem. I had good batteries. What I didn't have was the manual to reset the unit. When I went on line, there was no manual. Of course the unit was old and a manual was not available. Fortunately for the girl friend, she remembered how to reset it. This is exactly the reason why I strongly suggest that you keep a manual and a copy for every "modern"/"high tec"/"new and improved" tool/unit/flashlight/compressor/mechanical device.

I'm going to start checking my batteries a little more often. Last week the wife and I were in a model home (we purchased a new home) looking at different options. It was a just built model with no power and we were looking at a walk in closet. So I pulled out my handy TiS AAA light on my 'survival' key chain to light it up. Worked at first but then quickly died. I was very disappointed as it was using an Eneloop battery that was charged up not long ago (within a few months IIRC). However, when I checked the next day it worked. So I'm not sure if it was actually the battery or if the light itself is starting to go bad. Which would be very disappointing.

Unfortunately, flashlight and battery checking are ongoing activities.
1. I look up flashlight ratings on Amazon before buying. When the negatives are like 10%, I bow out. When a critical review says the flashlight is just ok, I think twice. I read the rating on your light.
2. Battery checkers also have problems. Some will try to rate a specific battery as to useful life. I have multiple types. Why? Because sometimes a unit that requires batteries really require a totally fresh unused battery, no matter what the rating.
3. If and when I ever drive to see a model home, I carry extra cheap and expensive flashlights in the car. So, if something doesn't work, I have a replacement. I learned the hard way. Drove 50 miles to the club. Tried to read the combo lock with my nifty key chain flashlight. Could not read the numbers!!!! Yep, my Photon did not have enough lumens.
It is also why I have at least one or two flashlights in each bedroom, the den and the living room as well as units ready to go in the garage and at the front door.
4. with the recent ramp up in preps, I ended up juicing up more rechargeables for the first time. I had failures among batteries never used in the past and which were brand name items. The only "attaboys" I can give is that I tested and got rid of what did not work.

I usually break out the multimeter a couple times a year and check and recharge all of my NiMH and Li-ion batteries as needed. Nearly all are stored inside lights and other devices so that they are always ready to go. Most battery testers work on Voltage, so I figure I'm good with testing with a multimeter. If there's any doubt, I charge them.

I have some alkalines that came with items I have purchased as “batteries included” that I save just in case I need them for something. I go through these too and weed out the leakers, which there's always a few; of course I do not store anything of value loaded with alkalines!

I don't pay much attention to amazon reviews for anything made in China as most of them are fake. I've had Chinese vendors offer me free products/discounts in exchange for 5 star “reviews” which I have always turned down.

As to purchases, I rather buy something I know is going to work, is well made and backed by a real warranty and customer service. If I can't afford it, I put the $ I would have spent on junk towards it and save up or I buy something with a few less bells and whistles that is still a quality product. I don't need a bunch of cheap crap that may or not work when I need it and I don't need a bunch of gimmicky phony “features” like 30,000 lumens, 57 different moon modes, SOS in 43 different languages and all that crap. All I really need is on and off and maybe a low mode, if I need a a flow chart to turn it on, it's too complicated. Maybe that's why I like the newer LED Maglites – they are simple, affordable and they work great.

Today, August 14, 2020, I received a megaphone. I put in 4 new duracell C batteries without testing. As the unit would not work, I took out the new C batteries and tested each one. One was dead.

This is a reality about batteries. If a unit requires 4 batteries and I want to have a back up set, the back up set will have more than 4 batteries.

Why a megaphone. Well, this new unit has a nice police siren as an option. I am going to put it in the trunk in case I run into any social protests on the road.

Alkalines suck. Get some energizer AA L91 utimate lithiums and a set of eneloop AA to C spacers. L91's will last as long as alkaline C's, weigh less, cost about the same, have a 20 year self life and they don't leak.

Gotta watch AA ( and others ) while left in equipment.... have lost a few items due to leakage
I usu pack the extra batteries with device in a zip lock

XXO has the idea. When the spacers came out for batteries and the reviews said that the spacers worked, I bought a pile because I didn't want to have to keep piles of the larger batteries for shtf.

Another reason was that some of the larger batteries had an advertised shelf life expectancy of only 5 years and the smaller alkalines were marketed as having 10 year shelf lives. (Of course, the reality is that you never know and keep battery checkers available).

xxo wrote: ↑Fri Aug 14, 2020 6:15 pm Alkalines suck. Get some energizer AA L91 utimate lithiums and a set of eneloop AA to C spacers. L91's will last as long as alkaline C's, weigh less, cost about the same, have a 20 year self life and they don't leak.

tom mac wrote: ↑Sat Aug 15, 2020 9:39 am Gotta watch AA ( and others ) while left in equipment.... have lost a few items due to leakage
I usu pack the extra batteries with device in a zip lock

I’ve lost some devices to leakage as well. It sucks. I keep my storm lights empty as well with the batteries zip locked in the same box.

With the potential heavy rains coming this weekend, started the process of going through and checking on all the lights. So, far everything looking good. Switching to rechargeable batteries in the lights have stopped the leakage issue.

Getting everything topped off and ready to go.